Rotary valve for internal combustion engines and the like



April 28, 1936. R c; c bss 2,038,830

ROTARY VALVE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES AND THE LIKE i Wu/111mm 11 w I nu 5 if v Z 6 W 9 A /i I mrEA/Tk RDA/9ND C. CROSS,

R. C. CROSS April 28, 1936.

ROTARY VALVE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES AND THE LIKE Filed March 28, 1935 4 Sheets-Shed 2 v lNVfi/YTO R QOL/i/VD C. CQoss,

R. c. CROSS 0 ROTARY VALVE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES AND THE LIKE Filed Marqh 28, 1935 4 Sheegs-Sheet 3 l/VVfNTO/Z QOLfin/o C. CROSS,

4 5f /l I April 28, 1936. R. c cRoss 2,038,830

ROTARY VALVE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES AND THE LIKE Filed March 28, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 M YENTOQ 5 04/7 /10 C. GROSS,

Patented Apr. 28, 1936 UNl'lE snares ROTARY VALVE FOR INTERNAL COMBUS- TION ENGINES AND THE LIKE Roland Claude Cross, Odd Down, Bath, England Application March 28, 1935, Serial No. 13,530 in Great Britain April 20, 1934 5 Claims.

This invention concerns rotary valves for internal combustion engines and the like, and has for its object to supply to the cylindrical bearing surface of the valve an adequate supply of lubricant not only for the purpose of lubricating the valve effectively, but in sufficient quantities to have also a very definite cooling effect upon the valve and its housing, and also for the purpose of making good fluid contact at all points between the valve surface and the valve housing, particularly for the purpose of improving'the heat flow from the valve to its housing. V

In the system according to the invention, lubrication and cooling of such rotary valves together with economy in oil consumption, is effected by distributingacopious quantity of lubricant in excess of that'normally required for lubrication over the bearing surface of the valve and controlling the amount of lubricant distributed over the said entire bearing surface by a scrapingi action applied at a predetermined point or points in the travel or path of the valve.

The lubrication of rotary valves hashitherto necessarily been carried out with the ,minimum quantity of lubricant sufiicient to prevent seizure V as, wellas provide lubrication, i.- e.- by using the Well understood border line degree of lubrication, so as to minimize the escape of oil through the port or ports controlled by the valve. In internal combustion engines not only is such an escape -awastage of lubricant, but the emciency of the engine is impaired when lubricant combines with the fuel mixture. 7

For these reasons flood lubrication of rotary- Jvalves by means of a copious quantity of oil greatly inexcess of border line lubrication-e. g. ten

or twenty times this usual amount, for, the purpose of cooling as well as lubricating'has not hitherto been: practicable, but according to the systemof-the invention such flood lubrication without the disadvantage of oil wastage and in the case of internal combustion engines resulting inefficiency 1 of the engine, is made possible by controlling the amount of oil. distributed over the whole bearing surfacev of the Valve so that well over per cent. of the oil can be removed before it is carried to the port or ports controlled by the housing where surplus oil is removed by a scrap-' ingactioninto a ductassociated with a device for effecting the scraping action.

As specifically applied to internal combustion engines wherein the valve controls a cylinderport communicating with the cylinder, the system according to the invention provides for feeding the copious quantity of oil to a point on that side of the said cylinder port where the movement of the valve will carry the oil away from the-said port; distributing the oil by the valve rotation as a film over the said bearing surface and removing surplus oil by the scraping action at a point on the opposite side of the said cylinder port.

It has been found in practice that the scraper duct is constantly subjected to wide fluctuations of pressure and'particularly is this the casein internal combustion engines wherein the'fluctua-' tions' are dueto the exhaust and inlet ports in 1 by a non-return action'p-reventing withdrawal of V oilback into the valve Such anon-return action may be producedby* a non-return valve in the scraper ductoperable by the pressure of oil scraped off the valve'sur face to permit of the flow of oil to the duct and adapted to close automatically upon the oil-pres sure being removed. 7 r 1 V In its preferred embodiment, the invention provides a circulatory system wherein thescraper duct is connected to an oil-supply, and the oil is fed to the valve and returned to 'the supply fro'm'thescraper duct under pressure. #Such pressure as is employed for returning theoil from the scraper duct to :the supply may be provided simply by the non-return action for preventing oil going back to the valve, or an auxiliary pressure means may be used in addition to the 5 ftionengines by the'action of a double pump of which one 1 part forces oilon to the valve face and the other part withdraws' oilfrom the scraper duct and returns it to the supply. 7 V 7 77 Alternatively, oil may be withdrawn from; the V scraper duct'and returned to thesupply under pressure'created 'by the action 'of, thej scraping .device operating on the valve. e 7 a A rotary valve employing the system according "to the invention may comprise a valve housing including a supply duct or ducts for feeding the copious quantity of oil in excess of that'normally' required forclubrication to the bearing sur- 7 face of the valve in combination with a duct associated with a scraper extending substantially longitudinally of the valve and resiliently engaging thesaid bearing surface, said scraper duct r being circumferentiallyspacedfrom'the supply duct ior ducts at a point adjacent to a port '-in the valve housing whereby ,prior to the copiously lubricated surface reaching said'port,.the surplus 1 oiljis scraped off 'the'said 'surfacelinto the scraper duct.-'-' v V walllof the rotary valve, and it is found that the valve will carry the oil very rapidly from the oil inlet sideof the valve housing to ithe scraper side" of the: valve housing, by its own rotational effort,

Preferably, the oilis'fed through a 'groove'o-r line of feed points formed in the housing and V "disposed substantially longitudinally of the Valve; and the'said housing may include return passages connecting the scraperductto 311L011 supply wherebya continuous circulation of oil maybe effected; To this end there-ispreferably pro! videdjin, combination with the rotary. valve aforesaidpmearisffor applying a copious'quantity' of oil under, pressure 'to the supply ducts 'or' duct 7 so fasto force the ,oil on to 'the-bearingsurface of thevalve and provide 'fiood lubrication ,fthereof, and means fol-"withdrawing surplus oil from the 1 scraper'duct and returning it to the supply.

" r1 1 5 V i c'lheserand other features of the present invenr tion will ,be more. clearly understood with, refer-,1

"ence'gto the acoo'mpanyin'gdrawings which illustrate byway ofiexampleionlyapplications of the invention to; a' rotary valve for internal combusm the draw n sgg Figure l'jis a vertical sectionthrough oneform1 of rotarygvalve according to theinvention asp-an @ticularlyj adaptedgfor. an internal combustion 1 tsi er ';Figure 1A is a; detail of Figure 1 showing 'the' V sc fiperiandj the associated duct into'which sur-;

plus oil is scraped from the surface 'of-th'elvalve;

V FigureZshOyvs analtern'ative' formV-of rotary; 60 valve according to the invention, employing a modified ioiljfeed and scraper; a a

e Figure 3-is a'vertical section through'the valve a housing modified to receive arrigid form of spring-,

' 'pr'essed'scraper; I

housingon the line IVIV of Figure 3';

scraper; shownsinfiFigure- 4, Figure 5 being a Figures 8, ,Qfand 10 show a fo'rm of scraper *Tsiinilar to' that illustrated inFigures 5 ,16, and 7,1;

"but modified to ineorporate' a non-returnflvalve 1 FigureA is a 'longitudinaljsection through the V rig' resais, and? are enlargeddetails.of-the or its housing from the scraperduct, a part of the housing together with the scraper in the scraper duct being shown in Figure 8, and'rthe valve plate and spring being removed inFigure 9; .and J V Figure 11 shows in diagram one arrangement 5 for pumping oil on the valve'face and withdrawing the surplus oil from the scraper duct.

In the drawings like reference numerals denote like or similar parts in the several views. 7

With reference first to Figure 1, the valve I'm; having the usual inlet and outlet ports; and 3,,

valve being clockwise as seen from'Figure 1- there is formed in the upper part of the housing, a line of supply ducts or feed holes I 0 disposed substantially longitudinally of the valve, the hous-T 7 ing being grooved longitudinally at 'l i in line with the feed holes to facilitate the distribution of the 25 oil over the bearing surface I 2 of the valveasthe;

: copious quantity'of oilis fed through the ductlfl;

On the opposite side of the cyli'nder'port' 9; and circumferentially spaced from thesupply" ducts Hi, there is formed in the housing these scraper duct l3 housing a scraper I4 extending Substantially gthwise of the valve and resil-g ientl'y engaging the bearing surface i2.- f v r The line of supply ducts and the scraper duct are disposed as close as practical to the cylinder port 9 so that the bearing area between'the V I ductsgi. e. the'to-p area on to which the'valve is forced by the engine explosion," is as largeras possible'to' ensure that such area where the bear ing pressure is highes't is effectually flo oded with oil,'and preferably the bearing area between the ducts subtends at the valve'iaxis, as shown, an W angle'approaching:lso jdegrees, 'andlfor all prac 'jti'oal purposes it' is. preferable that the fangleT should be equal to or greater than"90'fdegreesf i Connecting; theflscraper duct 13 withanhoil j supply (not shown in Figure 1 are return: pas

sages" l5, and according to the system of the in vention,,ithe oopious quantityf of oil will 'l he ;pumped;on ito'the bearing surface 12 through "the supply ducts in and, Where provided, through f ythe distributing groove orr'grooves H, and the v valve inrotating' will carry the 'oil with it land j at the same time distribute the oil over its surv 7 face as'a relatively homogeneous film providing' good fluid contactl'and a definite "cooling effect upon thevalve a'nd its housing." :1

When the bearing surface reaches the scraper e I4, the major portion of the oil is scraped off the" bearing surface into the serapertduct' I3; Where? in it accumulates and is returned'via'pas sa ge 15 to the source of supply, and'fonlyg the minimum' j quantity of oil remains to be carriedpaStjthe cylinder port '9 but sufficient to provide adequate, 6

lubrication over the; area between the scraper duct; and the port, each'side of the port longi-V- 4 tudinalllfi'and' between the port andthe supply vertical section,'Figure 6 alface viewrofthe scraper 7' V '70 and Fi'gure 7 a longitudinal section on the line ducts I 0.

bearing s'urface'IZ' and returnin the oil from the scraper duct to the supply is shown in 'Figu're 11,1 Referringi to the -diagra1n,*Fig'u're 11,1 the part designated 4 is a supply tank, and '42 is'a double a pump. The pump-'2 supplies' oil to the feedf if' .f

tank 4| through the pipe 45 andcommences re-c circulating via the pipe 46.

Various forms of scraping device may be em-' ployed, and several preferred constructions are.

shown in the drawings.

In Figure l the scraper consists of a resilient blade of springy metal made from a flat plate which is bent into the shape of an L viewed -endwise, of which the short arm I6 constitutes the blade and is preferably curved .as shown so that the outer edgewhich is the scraping edge attacks the valve with a good resilient contact, and the longer arm I1 is clamped in a longitudinal recess 18 in the metal packing 8 separating the upper and lower parts of the valve housing, resilient packing l9 being inserted between the arm I? and the packing 8 to prevent oil leakage into the valve and from the housing.

The blade 16 is housedin the scraper duct I3 which comprises a longitudinal chamber the walls of which are spaced from the blade so.

as to provide recesses 20 at the rear of the blade into which recesses the surplus oil is scraped and accumulates to form a head of oil which may of itself be sufficient to force the oil back to the supply, and in any case will facilitate the action of the pumping means when such is employed.

An alternative form of resilient scraper blade is shown in Figure 2 wherein a different-construction'of housing is used which does not include the oil distribution grooves ll although such may be provided if necessary or desirable- In the construction the scraper duct is constituted by a shallow rectangular recess 2| cut in and running the length of the main part of the housing and communicating with a slot 22 in the liner 4 in which is fitted a mounting plate 23 carrying the scraper blade 24, the plate having a port or ports 25 giving the oil access to the recess 2| and from thence to the return passages I5. The scraper blade 24 consists of a flat strip of springy metal one side of which fits into a groove in the mounting plate and is held therein by rivets 26, while the other side is formed as a free springy lip which is slightly curved so as to make good resilient contact with the bearing surface l2. In this construction also it will be noted that as the oil is scraped off the bearing surface, a pressure head will under most conditions be created for forcing the oil back to the supply.

A further construction of resilient scraper blade which is not shown, but which will be readily understood from the preceding figures, may consist of a U-shaped strip of springy metal of which one edge of the U is adapted to scrape on the bearing surface of the valve while the other edge remains stationary against the back edge of a slot such as the slot 22 which iscut in the liner or bush to accommodate the U strip, the latter being perforated to allow the oil gaining access to the shallow recess 2| forming part of the scraper duct.

In Figures 3-10 are shown preferred constructions of rigid. scraper and the manner of mounting the same in the scraper duct so as to resiliently engage the bearing surface.

The valve housing 5 in Figures 3 and 4 has a scraper duct similarly constituted to that of Figure 2, and the scraper comprises a rigid metal plate 21 grooved longitudinally to form a series of tongues 28 and provided with communicating grooves with the rear of the scraper plate. The scraper plate 21 fits the slot 22 in the liner 4 and behind the plate is mounted a spring 30 which presses the scraper tongues 28 into resilient engagement with the bearing surface of the valve.

By employing such a scraper, the bearing sur face of the valve is successively scraped by the individual tongues in turn as the valve rotates with the result that a uniform and efficient scraping action is effected ensuring that the'maximum' amount of surplus oil is scraped off the copiously lubricated surfaceand wastage is reduced to a minimum commensurate with sufficient lubrication during the passage of the valve from the scraper duct to the supply where a further copious quantity of oil will be fed thereto.

In'order to prevent oil leaking past the scraper into the valve, resilient packing 3 Isee Figure 4 only-may be inserted between the ends of the scraper; and the walls of the recess 22.

' A sirnilar form of scraper to that just described is shown in Figures 8-10, wherein the scraper is modified to include a non-return valve preventing oil being drawn back fromthe scraper duct into the valve. The scraper comprises a rigid metalplate 32 which is grooved along the front face to provide a series of scraper tongues 33 and is provided with'two parallel longitudinal recesses 34 in the rear face, one on eitherside of a particonnected by communicating passages in the formof slotss31. t 1

Fixed centrally .to the partition wall 36,5by

means of rivets or the .like 38, is a springy valve plate 39 covering the recesses 34 anda spring 40 bent away from the valve plate to form a passages consisting of slots 29 connecting the" .30 .3 tion'wall 36, the grooves and the recesses being spring abutment which engages with the rear of the scraper duct. I

When employing this construction of scraper, the scraper duct will consist of a rectangular chamber 4| extending lengthwise of the valve, into which chamber the scraper 32 is fitted with the spring plate 4|] abutting the rear of the chamber as shown so as to press the scraper tongues 33 into resilient engagement with the bearing surface of the valve. As the oil is scraped from off the bearing surface, the resilient valve plate will lift at the edges-which are freeand allow the oil to pass to the rear of the scraper duct and scraper being to effect a'tighter closure of the recesses by the valve plate. process, however, is accentuated greatly by exhaust gas pressure as the exhaust port in the valve passes the scraper. If desirable resilient packing at the ends'or sides of the scraper may also be incorporated in this construction.

By employing the system and apparatus ac cording to the invention not only is lubrication considerably more copious e. g. ten or twenty times greater than is usually practical, but by reason of the increased quantity of oil the valve temperature is reduced by actual oil cooling and a far better conducting film of oil is produced which carries the heat from the valve to the This oil expelling housing therefor, and moreoverby reason of the scraping action being appli'ed'anterior to the port or ports controlled by the valve. the major portion of the oil isrecovered so that economy in consumption is effected. v J a The scraper could extend longer than the 3 length of the valve; in fact, on multi-cylinder in line valve arrangements the several scrapers could with advantage be combinedas a single unit runningf continuously the wholelength of the cylinder head. a

'I claim:

1'. In combination, a casing having a valve I V -chamb'er, a rotary valve therein, means for delivering oil to the exterior surface of said valve,

.said casing having a recess opening into said chamber, a rotary valve'therein, means for'def by the blade to flow into the recess space behind said bla de, and means for conducting scraped oil from said recess. V '2. In combination, a 'casing having a valve f livering oil to the exterior surface of saidvalve, said; casing having a recess opening into said valvechamber, a scraperelement disposed within 1 said recess andurged yieldably'against said valve,

said scraperelementhaving openings extending 1 therethrough for flow of oil from: the valve 7 through said scraper elementinto the recess space behind the scraper element, and meansifor conducting scraped oil from said recess.

. 3, In. 'combination, a casing-having a valve valve chamber, a scraper element disposed within said recess, spring means within said recess behind said scraper element urging the latter against the valve, said'scraper element having chamben'a-rotary valve therein, means for de- 7 livering oil to the exterior surface of said valve, said casing having a recess opening into said;

openings extending therethrough for flow of oil from the valve through said scraper element intothe recess space behind the'scraper element; and

a flap valve carriedby said scraper element at the rear thereof for cooperation with said scraper element to maintain the flow ofioil unidirectional away'from the valve. 7 t

r 4. In combination, a casing having a valve chamber, a rotary valve therein, means for delivering oil to the exterior'surface of said valve, said casing having a recess opening into said valve chamber, a scraper element disposed within said recess, spring meanswithin said recess behind said scraper element, urging the latter against the valve; the valve engaging face of said scraper" v element being ribbed, said scraper element having openings formed therethrough between the ribs thereof for flow of on through the scraper" element into the recess space behind the, scraper e1ement,and means for conducting oil from said recess. a

5. Thecombination as set forth in claim ineluding a flap valve carried by thescraper e1ement at the rear thereof to preventreturn'flow of oil through the'scraper element to the valve 7 from the recess space'behind the 'scraperi element.

ROLAND CLAUDE oRoss. 

